Hawaii 1893: How American Businessmen Stole an Entire Kingdom — With the Marines as Muscle

Hawaii 1893: How American ​Businessmen Stole an ​Entire Kingdom — With the Marines as Muscle. In 1893, ​a group of American sugar planters, backed by 162 ​U.S. Marines armed with Gatling guns, overthrew the sovereign Kingdom of ​Hawaii ​in a single afternoon. ​No act of Congress. No declaration of war. Just a corrupt diplomat, ​a handful of businessmen, and the threat of American firepower pointed at a queen whose only crime was trying ​to give her people the right to vote. Queen Liliuokalani, the first ​and last queen ​of Hawaii, was deposed, imprisoned in her own palace, and forced to abdicate under threat that her supporters would be executed. The men ​who stole her ​kingdom? Grandsons of missionaries, sugar barons, and corporate oligarchs who controlled ​90% of the islands' economy. Their motive wasn't ​freedom ​or democracy — it was profit. Hawaiian sugar was being crushed by American tariffs, and annexation was the only way ​to save ​their plantations. President Grover Cleveland investigated ​and ​called the overthrow illegal. He tried to restore the queen. But the men who ​seized ​power simply refused ​to step ​down. Five years later, the United States annexed Hawaii anyway — ​over the signatures of 38,000 Native Hawaiians ​who petitioned against ​it. In ​1993, the U.S. Congress formally apologized, admitting ​that American agents overthrew a ​sovereign nation and that the Hawaiian people never consented to the loss of their country. But no land ​was returned. No ​sovereignty was restored. Just words. This is the story of how America's first ​corporate coup became the blueprint for regime change around ​the world. Sources and further reading: — "Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen" by Queen Liliuokalani (1898) — The Blount Report (1893), U.S. Department of State — Public Law 103-150, The Apology Resolution (1993) — National Archives: Joint Resolution ​for ​Annexing ​the ​Hawaiian Islands (1898) — PBS American Masters: "Queen Liliuokalani" #Hawaii #Overthrow #QueenLiliuokalani #AmericanHistory #HawaiianKingdom #Colonialism #USImperialism #SugarBarons #HiddenHistory #Geopolitics #1893 #Annexation #NativeHawaiian #CorporateCoup #MarineCorps ​#ManifestDestiny #ApologyResolution ​#Documentary #Economics #PowerAndMoney